Karyn Helps Jon Out

Karyn stared at him. "I know it sounds incredible, but you know the power of the stone." "So ... you're *not* my boyfriend and *not* on the swim team?" "Swim team? I'm a swimmer in this reality?" Jon was a pretty good swimmer, but he never thought he'd be good enough to get on the swim team. But, he supposed, in this reality he had made strides in accomplishing that dream. "Don't call it *this* reality, Jon. This is how things are supposed to be." "You know that isn't true, Karyn. The stone can make people believe that, but you know how the wishes work." "I know," she replied. "But it's difficult to imagine that my whole life is supposed to be something else." "Actually, you don't really seem all that different," Jon said. "Really?" "Yeah. The only thing that really changed was me." He got up and looked at himself in her mirror again. "Swim team, huh?" He definitely was fit enough. "Yeah. You're the top swimmer." He turned back to Karyn. "You understand that we need to get the stone, right? To fix this." "But you set a time limit on it, right? You'll be back to normal in a week." *A week,* Jon thought. *Why did I pick something so long? Why not a day ... or an hour?* A week was beginning to feel like an eternity to Jon. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I can't make some adjustments, like making myself turn back to normal when I'm not near anyone." "Do you know where the stone is?" "Yeah, it's in my bedroom. But I can't go home. I might accidentally get near someone and reality would change again." "Then *I'll* go," she said. "You can stay here and be safe." Jon was a little reluctant to trust her. Yes, he said that she was no different than *his* Karyn, but he really didn't know anything about her. But, in the end, he let himself trust her. He wasn't sure if that was because he was "bonding" with her or if it was his own conscious effort. Whichever it was, Jon told Karyn where he last put the stone and she left immediately afterwards, leaving Jon alone in her bedroom.